Objects are generally designed and modeled using a computer before being engineered and manufactured in the industry. A geometry corresponding to a profile of the object to be manufactured is generated on the computer, and an input associated with the geometry of the object is provided to a manufacturing machine. The geometry of the object may be a 2-dimensional or a 3-dimensional model of the object. The manufacturing machine may accordingly process a raw material to manufacture the object.
Objects, such as sheet metal parts, are manufactured by bending and folding of metal sheets using a sheet bending machine. Before manufacturing such objects, the objects may be designed and modeled on a computer. In this, a user, for example a designer, may generate a geometry of object on the computer. The geometry of object may correspond to a cross-sectional profile of the object that depicts a bending pattern of the object. In an example, the geometry may be a 2-dimension (2D) model, or 3-dimension (3D) model, of the object which may help in determining a sequence of bending for manufacturing the object. After generating the geometry of the object, an input associated with the geometry of the object is fed to the sheet bending machine. The sheet bending machine may work on a raw material. i.e., a metal sheet, to bend and fold the metal sheet to form the object.
Geometry of objects are conventionally generating on the computer using modeling tools, such as computer-aided design (CAD). Conventional modeling tools are graphic-user-interface (GUI) based tools that provide a menu with tables and a large number of GUI elements, for example buttons, to a user for generating the geometry of the object. The user has to enter, in a table using the buttons, cross-sectional dimensions of the profile of the object. Based on the entered cross-sectional dimensions, the modeling tool generates the geometry of the object and displays it on a display unit of the computer.
The conventional modeling tools work based on progressive modeling where, at an instance of time, the user enters cross-sectional dimensions associated with a portion of the profile of the object, and the modeling tool generates and displays a geometry corresponding to that portion on the display unit. The user subsequently enters cross-sectional dimension for another portion of the profile of the object, and the modeling tool accordingly generates and displays a geometry corresponding to the other portion. In an example, for the objects like sheet metal parts that include multiple flanges, the user may enter cross-sectional dimensions for one flange at a time. The cross-sectional dimensions may, for example, include an inner flange length, an outer flange length, a bend angle, and a direction of bend. The conventional modeling tool progressively generates and displays the geometry of the sheet metal part, flange-by-flange.
The progressive modeling of the geometry of the object, i.e., based on portion-by-portion of the object as per the dimensions entered by the user, is tedious and time consuming, as the user may have to enter a large number of dimensions at each instance. The geometry of the object generated based on the dimensions entered initially may not correspond to the geometry intended by the user. Thus, the user may have to remodel the geometry by varying one or more of the dimensions, in order to generate the intended geometry of the object. Furthermore, as the user may have to utilize a large number of buttons in the menu for entering various dimensions of the object, the user may have to be an expert in using the conventional modeling tool.